The container ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, causing its collapse and the disappearance and presumed death of six workers, was previously involved in a collision in a Belgian port in 2016 on Wednesday, the 27th of March, reported Politico and Reuters.
The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of one of the busiest ports in the US.
According to reports from the European maritime data service Equasis and other media, the Dali struck the quay walls of the port of Antwerp, causing “hull damage endangering seaworthiness”, after undocking and heading for the German port of Bremerhaven.
No one was injured, but the ship was kept in Antwerp for repairs.
According to the same Equasis report, an inspection carried out in Chile in 2023 revealed defects in the “engines and auxiliary machinery”.
However, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore stated that the ship had passed two independent inspections in foreign ports in June and September 2023. The Authority explained that the defect was repaired before the ship left port after the June inspection.
Two other workers were pulled from the water alive by rescuers on Tuesday and one of them was taken to hospital.
Officials have said that all eight workers injured in the collision were repairing potholes on the Key Bridge when the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali, sailing from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, struck a bridge pillar at around 1:30 a.m. local time.
The 289-metre vessel reported a loss of propulsion shortly before the collision and dropped anchor to slow the vessel, giving transport authorities time to stop traffic on the bridge before the accident. This step is likely to have prevented a higher death toll, authorities said.
However, it is not clear whether the authorities also tried to warn workers before the impact.
The collapse of the bridge has caused significant traffic disruption, affecting daily commuting and regional traffic routes.
US President Joe Biden promised to visit the city soon and advocated for federal funding to rebuild the bridge.
Tuesday’s disaster could be the worst US bridge accident since 2007, when a bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed, killing 13 people.
Also read: VIDEO | Bridge collapses in Baltimore after being hit by ship; rescuers search for survivors
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